“States compete with artificial intelligence, atomic energy,

Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor Vahe Davtyan writes: “An Agrarian Outskirts?

European Commissioner Martha Kos solemnly announces that the first symbolic batch of Armenian apricots has arrived in the EU. He also publishes a photo with the RA Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, holding an apricot.

Is this the Armenia we want to present to the world?

When instead of infrastructure, industry, energy, high technologies, transport corridors and strategic projects, Armenia’s European “success story” is presented with a few apricots, it is not just about the export of agricultural products. It is about the symbolic positioning of the country.

States in the world are competing with artificial intelligence, microchips, atomic energy, logistics hubs and technological ecosystems. And we are suggested to be proud that the Armenian apricot has reached Europe.

Apricot is a wonderful food, an important symbol of Armenian culture. And the political calculation of this action is more than clear. But when apricot appears exclusively at the core of the state’s foreign economic relations, it is willingly or unwillingly positioned as an agrarian periphery, rather than as a country with industrial, technological and engineering potential.

The most telling thing here is the photo itself. This actually reflects the peripheral perception of Armenia by Europeans. It was possible to take the same photo of an Armenian farmer, but not of the Minister of Infrastructure.

Symbols sometimes speak louder than official statements in politics.”

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